We both win.

So, I'll just say it ... I didn't get 5 of those items done this week ... you win.  BUT, I did get a lot done, so I'm counting it as a win too.

We completed 3 1/2 of the 8 items - I'm counting the 1/2 towards my bedroom because I did clean up the laundry area and move our cedar chest in there, and also put some laundry away, and swifter ... but the infamous pile has not budged, not even a little.  And, really I'm now saying that it was out of 7 items, because once I thought about having my dad hang the light fixture, I knew I certainly wasn't going to do it beforehand!

So, feast your eyes on this ... just look at our house.  It's amazing what a little cleaning (okay, a lot) and a little re-arranging will do to a place.  It feels bigger and more spacious.  And, everytime it's clean and crisp inside, we sit back to enjoy it and talk about how much we both really love our house ... and that's a happy story!  (Plus, we've been able to start opening the windows a few days at a time and it's just totally awesome!)



Spring has arrived! (but brought the rain with it ...)
FYI - This is the view from the window by my chair in the living room!

 So, the cabinets look really good here ... but they are still chipping, so at least they're up and the kitchen is functional again, but we'll have to redo them correctly, one at a time.  Oh well.

You can barely see the filler that he put in since the old hinges came through the cabinet doors ...  

 The crystal light that Pat so abruptly ruined when we first started fixing up the house ... is now in the trash. 
Goodbye old friend, may you bring sparkle to the landfill now.

 Installing the new light fixture ... yay!
THANKS, DAD!!

Yes, I still have to paint the ceiling around the base.

 Our kitchen floor is all ripped up now!  And it was a mess even for the contractors - they had a hell of a time even with all of their tools. 

All the people before us really did a number in there ... and we are glad to restore it properly!

 See how much they had to cut into the trim work just to get all the other flooring to fit in there over the years ...

why wouldn't you just take the old flooring out first? 

The flooring over the vent was fanagled when they decided to put in the cabinets and re-re-re-cover the flooring. 

So, now our contractors have to figure a way properly fix the fixes!

A while ago, I told you all about a new front porch rug I bought ... but I never posted a picture.  Here it is.  Although it looks somewhat worn because the front half is wet and dirty from the rain we've been having for about 2 weeks now!

The AWESOME lazy susan that Pat installed for me last week!  It is so so so nice to have a clean, new lazy susan ... and to have been able to clean out inside that cabinet (couldn't get to it before with the old one in there!)

I know it doesn't look super clean - but I promise it's just the way the wood has worn and stained. 

IT. IS. CLEAN. (finally)

My cedar chest used to be under these DR windows ... we moved it to the bedroom (where it belongs) and it has opened up this room SO nicely!

AND ...

I saved the BEST for last ... I finally got my ottoman today!!  Furniture finished!  And it looks great, and it's oh, so, comfortable! 

$100 Well Spent.

So, when our kitchen cabinets started chipping as we screwed in the hinges and started hanging them ... I said that I'd fix the problem areas.  I didn't know if it would be worth it to ask Tim the painter (aka - TtP) to come back and fix a mess he made in the first place.  But, as the day wore on and we got more frustrated, Pat declared that he wanted to call TtP back to fix the paint because, well, he should.  I agreed. 

So, Pat called me after he talked to TtP, to tell me that he agreed to pay him an additional $100 to come back and fix the problems.  I was pretty pissed off.  I mean, the gall to ask for more money - we already paid him, and he didn't do it right.  We should NOT be paying him to re-do the job.  Ughh.  But, Pat had already agreed, and given him $60.  And, after I got off my soap-box, principle-ranting tirade, I agreed too.  We paid him cash, so we got a $200 discount off his originally quoted price.  So, if we paid him another $100, it was still cheaper than his original quote, and maybe we would get away without having to do the painting/repair work ourselves.  It was a $100 gamble.  It paid off.  The cabinets now look great.

On to the lists.  My lists. They are literally scattered all over the house - in my purse, on the fridge, on the DR table, on my nightstand.  I live by lists.  Most of them overlap other ones and I start new ones constantly - probably more than one a day if you count work and home.  Remember this ...

Next up on the list ...

• Hang curtains on actual curtain rods.
• Paint and hang the shutters in the LR/DR.
• Hang the DR light fixture (that's been sitting in the garage for weeks now).
• Paint the hallway.
• Paint the guest bedroom.
• Organize the guest bedroom closet.

Well, I do (if you don't, see this post - Best. Week.).  And I went back to that post from a few weeks ago to see just how much of my list is still not done.  It's mostly not done.  Ugghhhh.  I lost all momentum gained by all the great things that happened that week.  And, I'm blaming it on the weather (cuz that's what you blame things on when you don't have an answer for them - colds, exhaustion, hair problems ... ).

Anyway, we didn't get any work done in the past 2 weekends either, and we really needed to.  We have guests coming next weekend - my family is almost all going to be here for the baptisms of our niece and nephew.  And, in true Marissa fashion (procrastination), I now have 3 1/2 days to actually get some work done.  Here is my new list of must-dos (some of them overlap the old list):

1. Clean the whole house (no big deal, we're two people in an 1100 sq. ft. house - how bad can it get?)


2.  Hang the DR light fixture (otherwise, I'm going to put my super handy, good-with-electricity father to work when he gets here this weekend!)

3.  Finish assembling the kitchen with everything that was in the DR, LR, and guest bedroom.

4.  Buy a bed frame for the guest bedroom (we threw the other one away over a month ago because it kept falling apart whenever anyone laid on the bed - basically, it was broken.)

5.  Paint the kitchen.


I thought I mentioned to everyone that we were having out kitchen remodeled ... did I not tell you?  Isn't it gorgeous?


6.  Clean my room (yes, there is a pile between my side of the bed and my dresser - it was clean for about a week.)

This is basically my room looked like and my parents had to put up with from the ages of 10 - 24.
Now, I live with Pat and I don't talk on the phone as much.



7.  Organize the guest room closet (what we are using as a linen closet).

This is actually, for real, what our linen closet will look like when I'm done.  No Joke. 
(Except mine will have labels on the shelves as well.)

8.  Paint and hang the shutters.

Pretty, right?

Who wants to gamble on how much gets done before Thursday (yes, a week from yesterday)? 

I'll let you in on a secret - we have plans for this entire weekend, so no work will get done until Sunday afternoon at the earliest.  I am going to a bachelorette party on Saturday night, so Sunday afternoon may be a stretch.

I'll put the over/under at 5. 

Now, most of you took the under, and based on my track record, you'd be right.  But you'll have to tune in next weekend to see if you'd be a winner.